Semi-finals set at Paralympic Winter Games’ wheelchair mixed team event

The last two round-robin sessions of the wheelchair mixed team competition were held on Thursday at the Cortina Olympic Stadium.

Before the first session of the day, Canada and People’s Republic of China have already qualified for the semi-finals. Six teams could take the two vacant spots.

Sweden played reigning Paralympic champions Team China in the afternoon knowing that a win would secure them a play-off spot. However, Team China scored four in the second and six in the fourth for a 10-2 lead at halftime.

Team China stole a single in the fifth when Viljo Petersson Dahl was light with his final draw. After a single score by Team China in the seventh, Sweden conceded the game, 12-3.

United States of America was hoping for a fourth win of the week when they played Norway in the afternoon. After a steal of two in the second, Norway were leading, 3-0. Norway kept their three-point lead at halftime, 4-1. In the second half, however, Team United States switched gears and put one-point scores on the board in three ends for 4-4 after seven.

Norway scored three in the eighth end and won, 7-4. With Team United States’ loss, Sweden qualified for the semi-finals.

Norway’s Geir Arne Skogstad after their afternoon win © World Curling / Ansis Ventins

Reacting to their play-off qualification, Sweden’s Sabina Johansson said, “It’s wonderful! That was our goal of course, to go to the semi-final, so we are very happy. We were in the mixed zone, and watched the last stone of the USA-Norway game on the TV. And when Norway won, we were very happy and we are ready for the semi-finals.”

Already qualified Canada met Republic of Korea in the afternoon who were looking for their fifth win. Canada were leading, 4-1, after four ends. Team Korea stole a single in the sixth when Mark Ideson came up slightly heavy with his last draw. After a score of one in the seventh, Canada stole a single in the eighth for a 6-3 win.

Team Canada celebrate their afternoon win © World Curling / Ansis Ventins

Hosts Italy were also on a won three, lost four record before they met Latvia in the afternoon. Latvia also had three wins before their encounter, but out of eight games.

The game was tied at 3-3 after three ends and at 5-5 after five. In the sixth, Italy stole three when Latvia’s Sergejs Djacenko wasn’t successful with his difficult tap-back attempt. In the seventh, Italy stole another two for 10-5, when Djacenko missed another tap-back attempt.

Italy ran Latvia out of stones and picked up their fourth win of the week.

United States’ Sean O’Neill © World Curling / Ansis Ventins

After the end of the afternoon session, it was confirmed that Canada are ranked number, while Team China are number two on the round-robin rankings and that the winner of the Italy – Team Korea evening game grab the final play-off spot.

In that game, Italy started with a score of two in the first, and Team Korea responded with a three in the second. They could have scored four, but Nam Bong Kwang’s last draw came up short.

Italy fans © World Curling / Will Palmer

Italy put another two on the board in the third, before Team Korea blanked the fourth. The teams were tied at 4-4, playing the sixth. Egidio Marchese came up slightly heavy with his last draw and Team Korea stole a single, 5-4. Italy had a chance to score two in the seventh, but needed to settle for one, as Marchese came up short with his last.

In the last end, Marchese’s run-back attempt wasn’t successful and Team Korea didn’t need to throw their last to win and qualify for the play-offs.

After their win and semi-final qualification, Team Korea’s Bang Min Ja said, “We’ve managed to pull off a tough match. I’m happy to have achieved that first goal, but there’s still the semi-final to play.”

In the other games of the evening, Team China beat Slovakia, 7-4, Norway defeated Great Britain, 9-2 and Canada were 7-3 winners over Team United States.

A United States’ fan © World Curling / Will Palmer

Canada finished the round robin undefeated (9W-0L) on top of the standings, Team China came second (8W-1L), Sweden were third (5W-4L), while Team Korea took fourth place (5W-4L).